Polling peaceful in 44 naxal-hit areas along the tri-State borders

An elderly woman voter is carried to a polling station at Rampachodavaram agency in Polavaram district on Thursday.

Polling in the 44 polling stations falling in the designated Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) areas on the tri-State borders of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana was held smoothly without any major incidents. Polling personnel deployed at the booths returned safely with the ballot boxes.

In Polavaram district, nearly 1.40 lakh voters—63%— cast their votes in the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) elections.

In the Rampachodavaram agency area, tribal voters, including those displaced by the Polavaram irrigation project, turned out in large numbers from their Resettlement and Rehabilitation colonies to cast their vote.

A Konda Reddi tribal woman comes out of a polling station after casting her vote in Rampachodavaram, Polavaram district on Thursday.

Polavaram District Collector K. Dinesh Kumar said: “No untoward incident occurred during the election anywhere in the Polavaram district, including the 44 polling stations which fall in the LWE-affected areas. Polling in these 44 stations ended by 3 p.m.”

At least 1,100 police personnel were deployed for the elections.

Polling was held for 12 ZPTCS and 101 MPTCs in Polavaram district, which falls under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. Mr. Dinesh Kumar said that additional transport arrangements to tackle the rains helped register a good voter turnout.

Counting for the four mandals submerged due to the Polavaram project will be done in Chintoor. Counting for the remaining eight mandals will be done in Rampachodavaram on November 7.

In West Godavari district, polling was conducted in alternative government buildings after the 43 designated polling stations were submerged due to continuous rainfall.

District Collector Chadalavada Nagarani said that the polling stations were shifted to government buildings in five mandals — Attili, Tanuku, Mogalthuru, Veeravasam and Penumantra— instead of postponing the elections.

The overall turnout percentage was 67.36%. Polling was held to 20 ZPTCs and 340 MPTC. Attili mandal recorded the highest polling percentage of 72%.

In East Godavari district, the election to one ZPTC and 18 MPTC seats has been postponed to November 6 following flash floods in Gopalapuram mandal, said District Collector Ch. Kirthi.

The decision was taken after the polling personnel were stranded at the Agriculture Market Centre, which had been designated as the distribution centre for polling material on Wednesday.